Carmi Taekwondo Center to hold Grand Opening Celebration Saturday

Friday

Oct 25, 2013 at 5:00 PM

It's always good news when a business is expanding. That is exactly what will take place Saturday, Oct. 26 for the Carmi Taekwondo Center (CTC) as they unveil their new 5,400 square foot building, located on the south side of Main Street in Carmi.

Tammy Knox Of The Carmi Times

It's always good news when a business is expanding. That is exactly what will take place Saturday, Oct. 26 for the Carmi Taekwondo Center (CTC) as they unveil their new 5,400 square foot building, located on the south side of Main Street in Carmi.

Owned and operated by Ryan Marx, the center first began in its location diagonally across the street from the current new facility in January 2004. Although Don and Jan Ridenour had operated a Taekwondo center in the area prior to that, there was no facility available in the area at that time.

"We started from scratch," said Marx, who is a native of Mt. Carmel. "My instructor, Master David Foshee, ran a school for the Ridenours and that is how I found out about the opportunity to begin a center here."

The new location more than doubles the previous floor space for those participating in the program. Marx also notes he does have plans to add more mat space within the next year.

Taekwondo is the major focus at CTC. However, there are other classes offered in the building. Mrs. Patty Mills provides a cardio kickboxing class for ladies only on Saturday and some jujitsu grappling, which is an intro to show the other aspects of martial arts, is also available.

Marx has been practicing the art of Taekwondo since he was eight years old. He immediately knew it was something he wanted to pursue. He attended Wabash Valley College and transferred to University of Southern Indiana, finishing up his bachelor's degree in business administration at Franklin University in Ohio. He then began seeking a location to begin a center and share his passion of Taekwondo.

New members to CTC are divided by ages and start in a beginner course for about six to eight months before bumping up to intermediate. There are nine levels of color belts beginning with White and ending with a Red/Black belt, which is the first degree recommended Black Belt. There are nine degrees of Black Belt. Marx just completed his training in July in Little Rock, Ark. at the American Taekwondo Association (ATA) World Championships and is now a Sixth Degree Black Belt.

"A Black Belt is a minimum of what level you are, so a first degree is one year, second degree is two years and so on," explained Marx. "Students learn the techniques through the color belts, but the training really starts in the black belts."

There are currently 35-40 active students in the program at CTC. The Center also provides regional tournaments to students, but they are not required.

"Our regional tournaments include the southern half of Illinois, the southern half of Indiana, the southern tip of Ohio and Kentucky," said Marx. "They usually hold a tournament every three months. We have some students that also go to out of region tournaments, such as Chicago."

Mills recently attended an out of region tournament in Chicago. She is the assistant at the Center and is a Level 2 specialty instructor, which is one step below being a fully certified collar such as Marx.

CTC will host an interschool tournament Saturday, Nov. 9 at their new facility. It will include clubs from Carmi, Mt. Carmel, Princeton, Ind., Olney, Mattoon and Charleston. Roughly 40-50 students will participate in the day long event that begins at 9 a.m.

"We are excited to hold the event in our new facility," said Marx. "This will be the first tournament at our new location."

The Grand Opening Celebration for CTC Saturday will be held from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. The event will include enrollment specials, trial classes, door prizes, free refreshments and tours of the facility. At the conclusion of the event, a Break-A-Thon will be held where students will break board to raise money for the HU Lee Memorial Foundation, which is used for college scholarships. Lee was the founder of ATA.

Regular classes for CTC are held Tuesday and Thursday from 4:30 until 8:30 p.m. Wednesday classes are from 5 until 8 p.m. Classes usually run about 50 minutes each.

Mills holds the Cardio Kickboxing Class from 9 until 10 a.m. Saturday and Tai Chi from 8 until 9 p.m. on Mondays. The Center also offers Open Mat sessions from 1 until 3 p.m. on Sundays.

In addition to classes, CTC offers all types of retail for items needed in martial arts. They also bundle the Dobok (Korean term for uniform) in the membership to ATA and the class fee.

"Any type of equipment needed, we can get," said Marx. "We have several different martial arts suppliers."

For more information about CTC, call 383-2884 or visit the Center's Website at carmitkd.com. They also provide information on their Facebook page.

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